


Epiphanies for Dummies

by Guilty_Pleasures (RenjiFan), RenjiFan



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Domestic, M/M, Schmoop, Sexy Times
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:55:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24873409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RenjiFan/pseuds/Guilty_Pleasures, https://archiveofourown.org/users/RenjiFan/pseuds/RenjiFan
Summary: And this, ladies and gentlemen, is Jared’s moment. His I Want Jensen to Live Here & I Really Don’t Want Him To Leave moment. And when he says moment, he completely means ‘freak-out’ because yeah, it’s a total freak-out.
Relationships: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki
Kudos: 108





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to LJ December 2008

When Jensen first moves his things to Jared’s, neither one really have time to think, let alone unpack before they’re off to their respective shoots. By the time they return to Vancouver, press junkets, conferences and a respectable horror flick under both their belts, there isn’t enough time for Jensen to find another place without giving up the only two days of peace he has before season four starts up.

“Just crash here, man. No biggie,” Jared tells him; and he can see the hesitation in Jensen’s eyes, can almost hear him weighing the consequences in that over-analytical head of his, and Jared grins. “I got an air mattress in the garage.”

Jared can tell the moment Jensen concedes by the way his eyes go from thoughtful to grateful, his lips pulling into a smile. “Thanks, man. I’ll be outta your hair in no time.”

Jared simply scoffs in feigned irritation before swatting Jensen in the back of the head and getting up to fetch them some well-deserved alcoholic refreshment.

~*~

If Jared has ever questioned his top billing status on the show, he’s absolutely convinced he doesn’t deserve it during their first weeks back on set. Dean’s storyline is airtight and absolutely grueling, but it doesn’t stop him from grinning at Jensen the second he finds out Sam only has about five seconds of air time during In the Beginning. Jensen punches him in the arm as he dials his travel agent and he blows a kiss to his co-star before booking his flight.

That same night, Jensen surprises him. They’re eating leftovers from their dinner on set when Jensen turns to him on the couch, expression guarded and hesitant and almost shy.

“What’s up?” Jared asks as soon as he sees him, not caring that his mouth is currently full of beef and some weird corn thing Melanie brought him from her grandma. His eyes fall from Jensen to the crumbs now decorating his best friend’s shirt and he mumbles out a “sorry” as he passes him a napkin.

Jensen is wiping the debris from his shirt but his normal amused expression at Jared’s shenanigans isn’t there and Jared’s getting a little worried.

“Don’t you think it’ll be weird?” Jensen asks and Jared stops chewing long enough to try and figure out what the hell he’s talking about.

“What’s weird?” he finally asks once he’s swallowed down his food. He swipes his beer from the table and takes a healthy swig as Jensen shrugs.

“This is your house, dude. I’m gonna be here all week while you’re…” Jensen waves a hand dismissively in the air between them and Jared grins.

“You’re worried about being alone in my house?” He’s always known Jensen had weird tendencies to be bashful at the oddest times but this is completely unexpected. Jensen is almost never weird with Jared.

“You’re gonna be gone!” Jensen exclaims, like if by speaking louder his goofball logic will wear off on Jared and he’ll understand why it’s such a big deal.

Jared shakes his head at his friend as he sits up and puts his take-out carton and beer on the table. He turns to Jensen, playful smile still in place but it’s softer now, because really, Jensen is the most adorable thing in the world when he’s being shy and Jared is totally not gonna think about how he just called Jensen adorable. “I’m not worried about you bein’ in my house. As long as you’re stayin’ here, it’s your place, too, okay? Quit fussin’.”

Jensen squawks at the fussing comment and Jared snickers at his indignant expression. But then, Jensen’s shoulders relax and he looks over at Jared, eyes still a bit skeptical but warmer now, relieved. “I just don’t wanna impose, man.”

Jared leans over and bumps Jensen with his shoulder. “Not possible. ‘Sides, you can help take care of my babies while I’m relaxin’ on the beach drinkin’ mimosas.” Jensen scowls at the mention of Jared’s impromptu vacation and Jared can’t help but grin at him again. “You cool?”

The scowl fades into a smile as Jensen stares straight ahead at the commercials flickering on the television, nodding slowly. “Yea, I’m cool.”

~*~

Jared arrives home from Hawaii to find Jensen cooking dinner. Not grilling, not nuking, but cooking and holy crap on a cracker, it smells good.

“Dude, what are you doin’?” Jared peeks his head into the kitchen and sees Jensen standing in front of the stove, stirring something with a wooden spoon.

Jensen turns to him and Jared blinks, tries to tell himself that there is no way in hell Jensen is blushing. It’s just the heat from the stove or something, right? But Jensen is giving him that small, hesitant smile, eye brows raised slightly. “Dinner?”

Jared steps away from the door and pads over to the stove, looking over Jensen’s shoulder and sure enough, there’s dinner. On the right burner sits his skillet, chunks of beef and onions crackling and simmering; behind it is a large pot with mashed potatoes, already mashed and looking as good as his momma’s and directly in front of Jensen is god’s honest homemade gravy, which he stirs diligently as if letting it set for a single second will result in world tragedy.

Jared lets out a small laugh and steps back. “Holy crap, dude. That’s home cookin’ right there.”

He can’t see Jensen’s expression from his spot behind him but he can hear the smile in his voice when he turns his head just a little and says, “Welcome home.”

Jared thinks he is enjoying having Jen around way too much.

~*~

Jared doesn’t notice the boxes until Jensen’s been there almost a month and a half. He usually doesn’t go in the spare room, likes to give Jensen his space because hello, they see each other enough as it is and he really doesn’t want Jen to get too tired of seeing his ugly mug, but it’s the weekend and Jared can’t sleep.

What are roommates for, right?

So, it’s three a.m. and Jared is sneaking into Jensen’s room to wake him up in the most obscenely cruel way possible when he stops. He’s barely half-way into the room when he notices the boxes still lined up along the far wall, high enough to block out the window completely. It’s been a month and a half and it doesn’t look like Jensen has unpacked a single thing.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is Jared’s moment. His I Want Jensen to Live Here & I Really Don’t Want Him To Leave moment. And when he says moment, he completely means ‘freak-out’ because yeah, it’s a total freak-out.

Jared steps back out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him and makes his way back up the stairs, his head suddenly filled with questions as to why Jensen hasn’t unpacked, why he’s still sleeping on that damned air mattress that Jared knows can’t be good for Jen’s bad back, why…

He’s on the third stair when he stops again and realizes that he’s hurt. He’s hurt to think that Jensen doesn’t wanna stay here, with him, doesn’t wanna live with him. Jared looks over his shoulder and down the hall, eyes landing on the closed door of the spare room, Jensen’s room.

Something shifts in his head and he feels off-kilter all of a sudden, like there’s something he should know, something he should see but the pieces of the puzzle are scattered everywhere and he doesn’t know where to start to put them back together again. It’s unsettling and as he turns back and starts up the stairs once again, he realizes that his moment was the very first piece of the puzzle, a puzzle with a bigger picture that he needs to figure out but has no idea how.

~*~

Jared doesn’t get much sleep that night, too busy trying to shut his goddamn head up for ten seconds so he can actually think. He finally gives up and passes out from the exhausting week with a frustrated hand still buried in his hair.

They’re off today and Jared makes sure he’s up before Jensen, though it’s not much of a feat considering he’s always up before Jensen, weekend or no, cause Jensen is a lazy fuck in the mornings and Jared’s been dubbed the coffee bitch since he’s moved in.

So, the coffee is ready, Jared’s bouncing off the walls from adrenaline and his morning work-out and he decides he can’t wait for Jen to roll his lazy ass out of bed because Jared is literally rattling inside his own skin and needs someone to talk to before he goes insane.

He fetches the enormous coffee cup Megan bought for Jensen when their families met up for Christmas last year and pours half the damn pot in it before spooning in just the right amount of sugar and stirring it to perfection. ‘The first cup is the most important,’ Jensen had explained to him while detailing out Jared’s newfound responsibilities as caffeine whore and Jared is super-anal about getting it right and just the fact that he does that is just downright weird now that he thinks about it.

He lets Harley and Sadie out the back door before crossing the living room and heading to Jensen’s room. He knocks lightly before opening the door slowly and he can’t help but narrow his eyes at the boxes that haunted his restless sleep. He really wants to just walk over there and tip the contents of each and every one onto the floor, but that would be bad, considering Jensen would probably decapitate him or disembowel him or something equally as painful for waking him up in such a noisy manner.

Instead he steps lightly over to the air mattress and sets Jensen’s coffee on the small table serving as a nightstand before sitting himself down as delicately as possible considering he’s bigger, heavier and bulkier than he’s ever been in his natural born life.

The mattress dips and settles and Jensen makes a small noise before pulling the covers up over his shoulders and burying his nose in the pillow and Jared finds himself just watching with a small smile on his face. He’s always picking on Jensen for the fact that he looks so young and innocent sometimes, especially when he smiles that mega-watt smile and his eyes light up like he’s just found a hidden room full of Playboy Bunnies on Ecstasy or something, but here, now, he looks almost angelic as he sleeps.

Jared’s seen Jen sleep dozens if not hundreds of times, but it’s usually a quick cat-nap, dozing in between shots on the couch in his trailer or nodding off with his face pressed against the window as they drive home after a really long day. He’s never actually seen Jen so comfortable, so peaceful and it’s a little odd how endearing it is to Jared, how he finds himself enjoying the flicker of Jensen’s eyes behind his closed lids, the small and steady in and out of his breath as he dreams.

He forces himself to stop watching his friend sleep, feeling a little creepy cause yeah, he was really enjoying it, and he reaches a hand up to grip at Jensen’s shoulder. “Jen?” He shakes his friend gently and Jensen’s brows come together in protest as he lets out a small groan, rolling away from Jared’s offending hand. “Come on, man, it’s after ten,” he tells him, knowing that even though Jensen loves to sleep in on the weekends, he usually feels like shit on Monday if he sleeps too late.

“Dunwanna. Go’way,” his friend grumbles from under the warmth of his sheets and Jared laughs quietly, the cute quotient shooting up off the charts as he hears Jensen sniffle and bury himself, if possible, even deeper into his pillow.

“I brought your coffee,” he tries again, pulling his hand away. “It’s gonna get cold, and I ain’t makin’ you no more, so you better get up and drink it.”

Jensen whimpers at the temptation of fresh coffee and Jared resists the urge to do a fist pump in triumph. His co-star, if anything, is a complete and total sucker for a cup of coffee. Jared had thought at one point that Jensen was an alien and needed coffee kinda like humans need water or something, because the man’s love is undeniable.

Jensen finally rolls over, arm pushing out and folding his sheets down over his chest as he looks up at Jared with puffy, sleep-filled eyes. “It’s Saturday,” he deadpans and Jared nods. It really is Saturday. He can’t deny a fact like that. “You’re sitting on my mattress, waking me up before noon, on a Saturday,” Jensen continues, voice rough and deep and Jared grins at him innocently.

“I brought the big cup,” he explains and looks over at the steaming mug sitting beside them.

Jensen rolls his tired eyes and lets out a long groan as he pulls himself up to sitting, back resting against the bare wall, arm reaching blindly for his glasses sitting on the table. Jared picks up the coffee and holds it out in offering as Jensen blinks several times, working the sleep out of his eyes.

Jensen takes the mug and his eyes slip closed as he inhales deep, a small, and completely involuntary smile creeping onto his face. Jared knows it’s involuntary because Jensen is physically incapable of a real smile before at least two cups of sustenance, but no matter how tired, groggy and/or homicidal he is when he wakes up, that small, pleased smile finds its way onto his face when he takes that very first sniff.

“I didn’t realize you hadn’t unpacked,” Jared says as Jensen takes a tentative sip from his coffee and his eyes open to peer at Jared over the rim. He glances over his shoulder at the boxes, can feel them staring at him and he turns back, fighting against his initial urge to flip them all on their heads. Jensen is still staring at him, taking little sips of his coffee and Jared sighs. “Dude, why haven’t you unpacked? Like, anything?”

Jensen shrugs and looks at Jared curiously as he places the ginormous cup back on the table. “Not stayin’, man. No point in unpacking everything just to pack it up again when I find a new place,” he explains matter-of-factly and Jared feels his stomach twist at the words.

He claps his hands together and lets them fall between his splayed legs, looks forward and out the door into the hallway, forcing his voice to sound as casual as he can while he wonders why the hell the thought of Jensen moving out is bothering him so damn bad. “Market’s not that great right now, Jen, even for renters. You should just stay here.”

He doesn’t dare look over at Jensen’s expression because he can tell his voice sounds off; but then Jensen is sitting up even more, bringing his knees up to wrap his arms around them. It’s then that Jared looks over, notices Jensen is wearing the giant pair of sweats he swiped from Jared when he stayed with him on his birthday and Jared swallows as something clicks into place in his head. The fact that Jensen is wearing his clothes is creating way too much of a reaction in his stomach and when he looks up, he can see the slight blush on Jensen’s cheeks as he sees Jared’s recognition.

Jensen clears his throat, looks away, toward the boxes towering over them. “I really don’t wanna impose,” he says for the second time and Jared thinks it’s two times too many and kinda wants to smack Jensen for being such a thoughtful asshole. “And besides…” Jensen turns back, reaches over for his coffee. “You’re bound to get sick of havin’ me here soon.”

Jared just shakes his head, rolls his eyes, tries to think of another way to show his exasperation at Jensen’s innate ability to insult himself without even seeming to think about it. “You’re not imposing and I’m not gonna get sick of you,” he says and finds his voice a bit more firm than he intended. He tries to be less of a tyrant by shooting Jensen a smile. “I mean it, Jen. It’s a big house, and…” The smile falters a bit as Jared looks down at his hands, picks at a nail nervously. “I like havin’ ya here, man.”

He looks over and finds Jensen watching him, that curious look back in his eyes, like Jared’s a new species of sea monkey or something. Finally, his best friend lets out a small sigh. “Okay,” he says and Jared straightens. “We’ll give it a shot, I guess. But, seriously, you get sick of me bein’ here man, you tell me.”

Jared’s grin hurts his face. Like, really hurts, but in a really good way.

~*~

He drags Jensen to a furniture store in town later that afternoon and spends two hours twiddling his thumbs while Jensen discusses prices and sizes with the salesgirl. When they leave near dusk, frame, mattress and a box of pieces for the gorgeous black iron head and footboard all loaded into the back of Jared’s truck for about one third of the original price, Jared decides he’s going to let Jensen do any and all wheeling and dealing he needs done, ever, cause he’s just that good.

They order pizza for dinner and spend the evening assembling the intricate headboard, which happens to be in thirty thousand pieces, each one different according to the instructions that Jared drowns accidentally when he knocks his soda off the table. Jensen’s laughing at him as he works the screwdriver with ease, attaching piece after piece, claiming he doesn’t need them, don’t worry about it and Jared gives up and sits back to watch Jen work.

Growing bored relatively quickly, Jared heads into Jensen’s room and deflates the mattress, gathers Jensen’s sheets for the wash and vacuums as much of the floor as he can before Jensen’s hollering at him to come help him carry the headboard.

He’s surprised by how heavy the assembled pieces are and it takes both of them to put together the frame, one holding and balancing the iron pieces while the other attaches the long-boards for the box-spring. They work effortlessly, though, having more than enough experience working together and within ten minutes, they’re plopping down the box-spring and mattress and Jensen is flopping onto his new king-sized bed with a sigh.

“Better than the air mattress?” Jared asks with a smug grin because it was his idea to go to the furniture store, after all.

Jensen just sighs as he pulls his legs up and rubs his face on the naked mattress, practically purring at the softness. Jared laughs and smacks his leg as he leaves the room to put the sheets in the dryer.

He’s in the laundry room, pulling the sheets from the washer when he hears Jensen step up behind him. “These should be dry in like thirty minutes,” he tells him as he finishes loading them into the dryer and tosses in a sheet for added softness.

He’s spinning the dial to the right time when he feels Jensen’s hand on his shoulder and he stops, turns slowly to find Jensen standing there and looking at him with a weird expression on his face. “Thanks,” he says and Jared’s confused, doubly so by the soft, shy smile adorning Jensen’s face. The hand falls to his arm, grips him for just a moment and then Jensen’s ducking his head, turning and heading out the door before Jared can get his head to catch up with the fact that his skin feels like it’s fucking tingling from where Jensen just touched him.

He shakes his head and blinks several times which only serves to make him a little dizzy before he’s clicking on the dryer and leaning against it, trying to figure out why his I Want Jensen to Live With Me moment seems so closely tied to that small, shy smile.


	2. Chapter 2

They film Yellow Fever and Jared doesn’t think he’s laughed so much in his entire life. Jensen is nailing the scared Dean bit and when he does his girly scream, Jared cracks up so hard he thinks he’s put the lives of potential Padalecki children at risk.

The crew is in great spirits, everyone cutting up between takes and Jensen seems to be lit up like a goddamn tree half the time, eyes as bright as his smile, something mischievous glittering behind them every time he looks at Jared. He finds out why when he ends up on the bad end of a very good prank, opening a locker and being attacked by two blow-up dolls attached to high-pressure air pumps. He lands on his ass, bruises his tail bone and everyone is laughing their asses off as Jared struggles not to suffocate on plastic tits.

Jared gets his revenge when BuddyTV shows up on set and he publicly announces Jensen’s horrible drool-causing mancrush on him. Jensen blushes beet red when he sees the footage and the interviewer smiles brightly at him as Jared laughs. He hardly feels the punch to his shoulder beyond the pain in his ass from his tango with “Angela” and “Miranda” and when he sees Jensen shake his head and finally let out a laugh, warmth pools so deep in his belly, Jared thinks he might have food poisoning.

~*~

Jensen goes golfing with Tom that Sunday and Jared spends the day trying to catch up on all his TiVo’d episodes of Deadliest Catch and playing with his dogs in the backyard. They got their scripts that morning by courier and Jared is flipping through his for the first time when Jensen comes home around seven, his entrance punctuated by the eruption of excited barks and the sound of nails scraping on the hardwood floor.

Jensen pads into the living room after cooing at the dogs and probably sneaking them treats (Jared’s completely anal when it comes to his babies and the sudden disappearance of a whole box of Milk Bones did not go unnoticed, thank you) and Jared smiles at him from his spot in the recliner. He’s got the side table lamp on, light aimed down at the script resting in his lap and Jensen smiles back before flopping down on the couch.

“I may be a little drunk,” Jensen says and there’s no ‘may’ about it by the pronounced slur of his words. Jared casts a glance at the clock and laughs.

“Dude. How’d you get drunk on a golf course before eight on a Sunday?” he asks incredulously and watches as Jensen shrugs up further onto the couch, burying his socked toes in the cushions and propping his head on the armrest to look over at Jared.

“Tom’s crafty,” he says with a grin and Jared laughs again, setting his script on the table beside him. He’s been nursing a beer for the last few minutes himself and he picks it up to take a long pull. “He, ah, he says… hi, by the way,” Jensen says and Jared picks up on the almost stutter and cocks a brow at him when he lowers the bottle, pulling it from his lips.

“Somethin’ wrong?” he asks, because Jensen’s face is red from the alcohol and there’s this dazed look on his face as he stares at the bottle in Jared’s hand for a long moment before blinking quickly and meeting Jared’s eyes.

“Nah, man. I’m gravy,” he says and the words are slow and lazy, vowels slipping together and Jensen’s voice sounds wrecked, deep and scratchy like he’s been screaming all day.

Jared cocks his head and shrugs, deciding Jen’s behavior isn’t worth analyzing at the moment considering how he’s fighting a shiver at the sound of his voice all gravelly and low like that and wait, what?

His head spins as the last piece falls into place and holy shit, that’s a big piece, because he never would’ve thought…

The smiles, the weird feelings, the way he…

“Oh. My. God,” he says as he sits up and he can feel the blood drain from his face. His eyes rise and catch on Jensen and he finds his best friend sitting up as well, face worried as he leans forward and puts a hand on Jared’s knee.

“What’s wrong, man?” he asks and his voice is back to normal, eyes almost clear with concern and all Jared can do is stare back at him blankly before finally speaking the answer to everything without even thinking.

“I have a crush on you,” he says, and feels his pale face heat up in a flash, the realization of what he just said smacking him upside the head as he sees Jensen’s eyes widen, feels his hand fall away from his leg.

He doesn’t give Jensen a chance to respond before he grabs his script and literally sprints from the room and up the stairs, embarrassment running hot in his veins, humiliation hot on its heels.

~*~

So, the thing is, Jared’s not too bright sometimes when it comes to things in his personal life. Case in point, Alexis, but anyways, he can be a bit naïve and take life a little too easily, letting things slide and not analyzing them too much and it’s one of the reasons he thinks him and Jensen are such good friends. Jensen over thinks everything, and they kinda even each other out. Jensen is the scholar to Jared’s airhead or something.

But Jared’s not a stupid man, intellectually or emotionally. It just… Sometimes, it takes him a little while to catch on, is all. But once he does, he can over think like the best of them. Hell, put Jensen to shame, even.

And goddammit, why is everything reminding him of Jensen these days?

Oh, right. Because he’s got a friggin’ crush on his best friend.

He feels like he should get a participant award for the Special Olympics as he sits down on his bed and pulls roughly on his hair for about the tenth time in as many minutes. It’s so freaking obvious now that he sees it. So obvious why he enjoys spending so much time with Jen, working or not. Why he wanted him to live at the house so bad. Why he stares and watches the way the light hits Jensen’s freckles when they’re outside shooting a scene and the sun is actually shining.

How could he not have seen this? And what the fuck is he supposed to do now that he knows? He tugs at his hair again as he lets out a frustrated groan.

Jared is going to go bald. Very soon.

~*~

Jensen doesn’t say much the next morning as they get ready for work, and Jared can’t bring himself to meet Jen’s eyes so he doesn’t really blame him, at all. He actually feels like he owes Jensen an apology, especially for the way he ran out of the room the night before and shut himself in his room. He’d left Jen to take care of the dogs and everything and he honestly thinks he’s going to go to hell for not only being completely oblivious but also a bad parent and friend. Goddamit.

He spends most of the day talking into his cell phone to Jensen, running lines so they can film Dean’s side of the conversation. Jensen’s game is a little off and it takes more takes than necessary and he keeps rushing out apologies, cheeks flushing when he screws up and Jared just wants to walk the eight steps to the Impala, open the door and wrap Jensen in a big hug and growl at anyone who makes him look like that; like a kicked puppy with self-esteem issues. Fuck.

They get an extended break while the crew films a few scenes without them and Jensen is nowhere to be seen. He hears one of the PAs tell Kim that he went to town and will be back after lunch and Jared slumps when he realizes Jensen’s probably just trying to avoid the awkward as much as possible. Again, he can’t really blame him.

Jared goes for a long run, trying to get rid of the nervous energy bouncing around inside him and returns to his trailer for a quick shower. When he pops back into make-up, the girls look at him like he’s lost his mind for washing off his perfect face but he gives them an honest, lost look and they just roll their eyes and get to work.

He doesn’t have time to eat anything before they’re setting up for Sam’s big battle with the monster of the week and his arm is tired by the time he sees Jensen emerge at the end of the long hallway. The shocked, open and shattered expression on Dean’s face makes the breath catch in Jared’s chest and his mouth falls open, protest dying on his lips before he blinks back to where he is, what he’s doing and he finishes out the scene perfectly.

When they call cut and start setting up for Jensen’s scenes with the zombies, Jared heads out of the building and goes straight to his trailer, locking the door behind him before falling face first onto the couch and mentally smacking himself for the hundredth time that day.

~*~

Cliff drops them off at the house a little before six and Jared is grateful for the relatively early day as he pads into the house and drops to his knees to greet his babies. He hears Jensen step up behind him in the doorway and almost jumps when he feels Jensen’s arm brush his as he reaches down to rub Sadie’s snout. He chances a glance toward him and sees how tired Jensen is, the downward pull of his mouth, the lines around his eyes that were well hidden by makeup.

“I’m sorry,” he says without thinking and Jensen looks over at him surprised. It’s probably the third word he’s said as Jared all day.

“For what?” Jensen asks and straightens. Jared follows suit and stands, swallowing awkwardly. He hasn’t thought past the ‘I’m sorry’ part. Hell, hadn’t thought about that part, so he’s really lost right now.

“Everything?” he tries and watches as Jensen pushes the front door closed and looks down to toe off his shoes. Jared feels pinned to the spot when Jensen looks up, eyes narrowed in thought as he bites his lips between his teeth.

“Did you mean it?” he asks and Jared’s heart trips over itself in his chest and all he can manage is a nod as he tries to remember that Jensen is his best friend, he shouldn’t feel like this, it’s bad, wrong.

But then Jensen’s nodding, too and moving forward and Jared lets out a surprised gasp as his back hits the door, Jensen’s green eyes staring up at him from a mere inch away, his arm braced across the expanse of Jared’s chest. He thinks for a minute that Jensen is going to hit him, but his free hand is grabbing hold of Jared’s jacket instead and suddenly there’s pressure against his mouth and aw, holy fuck, Jensen is kissing him.

The sound he makes can’t be classified as anything but a squawk but once he realizes what’s going on, his arms are wrapping around Jensen’s waist, hands flattening on the small of his back and pulling him closer and Jensen is moaning and Jared thinks his brain just completely sizzled out because Jensen’s tongue is pressing against his lips.

Jared lets out a moan of his own as his lips part, his tongue reaching out to meet Jensen’s half-way and Jared can feel the heat of Jensen’s skin through his shirt as he presses closer, his arm moving from Jared’s chest to weave in his hair and Jared can’t remember ever feeling so fucking hot from a kiss.

Jensen pulls away and rests his forehead on Jared’s, breath coming in short pants, fingers threading through Jared’s hair and rubbing absently over his scalp.

“Jen?” he asks because he seriously needs some clarification and maybe some motion sickness pills cause his stomach is seesawing back and forth from nerves and excitement and he’s half-hard from a fucking kiss and he really wants to do it again.

“Me, too,” Jensen whispers and his eyes are downcast, focused on the space where their bodies are pressed together.

“Huh?” Jared’s mental capacity for speech is very limited and so is his capacity for thought, evidently, because he totally has no clue what Jensen’s agreeing to.

“God, you’re slow,” Jensen laughs and then he’s kissing Jared again, body pressed firmly against his and he arches up and ohhhh. Jared can’t help but feel the obvious bulge pressing against his thigh and it’s probably the hottest thing he’s ever heard when Jensen rocks forward again and whimper-moans at the friction.

When Jensen pulls away this time, Jared leans forward with a whimper of his own, trying to catch onto that luscious mouth again and Jensen laughs softly. “You get it now?” he asks and Jared opens his eyes, finds Jensen looking at him, his obvious amusement shining brightly.

Jared just nods, still not trusting his brain of coherent speech and pulls Jensen back, smiling against his mouth when Jensen laughs again, mumbling something that closely resembles “giant idiot,” but Jared doesn’t really care, because he can finally see the big picture, and it’s Jensen and him. Together. And Jensen can see it, too, and that? That is just awesome.

~*~

Epilogue

So, it turns out that Jensen has once again proven he is not only older and wiser, but also much more self-aware than Jared and had figured out his puzzles pieces almost four months before they broke for season hiatus. This is a startling revelation for Jared, who can’t seem to figure out why he hadn’t noticed the subtle changes in his best friend until he realizes he did, actually. The small, shy smiles, the way Jensen was so hesitant to move in because he could possibly “impose.”

Things always make so much more sense in retrospect, but it kind of sucks cause Jensen is currently straddled over Jared’s lap and grinding down on him and Jared realizes they could’ve been doing this for the last few months and he kinda wants to stop just to smack himself silly, but then Jensen presses down again and the thought is gone along with any other cognitive function Jared may have been able to manage at such a delicate moment.

They’ve been doing this for over a week now, things growing progressively more physical. That first night, they’d been able to get each other off right there in the foyer, hands down the waistbands of the other’s jeans, and the girls in makeup had the audacity to blame Jared for the huge blood bruise Jensen had sucked/licked/bit into his neck when he came, sticky and wet over Jared’s fist.

He took in it stride though, cause being marked up by Jensen’s mouth? Totally worth their tirade. Especially when Jensen kissed the spot repeatedly that night, murmuring about how he’d thought about putting his mark on Jared for months, had thought about it when he was in the shower, wishing it was Jared stroking his dick instead, jerking off to the thought of biting into Jared’s skin until everyone who saw him knew exactly who he belonged to. Jared had come quicker than a 13-year-old watching his first porno with those dirty words floating in his head and looked at Jensen in shock because wow, who woulda thought Jensen had such a filthy mouth?

Jensen had laughed breathlessly when Jared tried to explain just how inexplicably hot that was as he pinned his co-star to the couch, reaching down to pay him back for such a wonderful mental picture.

Things are pretty awesome in Jared’s opinion. This ‘crush’ of his has proven to be one of the best things that’s ever happened to him and the transition from friends to lovers is so seamless, Jared can’t help but wait for the other shoe to drop.

It’s Friday night when it does and Jared can’t help the pout on his face when he walks into Jensen’s room to see boxes. Dirty, filthy, treacherous boxes, still unpacked and tucked neatly inside of Jensen’s closet.

“Dude. What the hell?” he sputters when he catches sight of them behind the closet door that Jensen usually keeps closed.

“Huh?” Jensen asks eloquently from his place on the bed, glasses perched on his nose and highlighter between his teeth. The script for next week is sitting in his lap, Jensen’s scratchy scrawl all over the side of the page, marking out his plans for the scene and Jared narrows his eyes at him before motioning toward the boxes.

“You still ain’t unpacked?” He tries so, so hard not to sound like a whiny five-year-old but come on, he thought they established the need for those boxes to go a while ago.

Jensen looks sheepish as he sets the highlighter down to rub at the back of his neck and Jared crosses his arms about his chest. “I really haven’t had time, Jay,” he confesses and his face is turning a bit flushed and Jared looks at him as if to say ‘Ok. So? Continue.’ Jensen laughs as he sits up, shaking his head. “Between work and… well, you, I haven’t had time to call my ma, let alone unpack a house worth of shit,” he explains patiently, obviously unsurprised by Jared’s reaction. He’s used to Jared’s infantile moods by now, and his appeasing explanation makes Jared blush as he remembers how they’ve spent almost every free second either making out or working lines or, you know, making out. He looks down at the floor as he feels the blush work its way to the tips of his ears.

“Oh, yeah,” he mumbles, shifting his feet and Jensen laughs, loud and carefree as he grabs Jared by the wrist and tugs him over. Jared lands sprawled over Jensen’s legs and he looks up to find his best friend smiling down at him tenderly. The whole ‘soft and gentle’ thing is still relatively new between them, but Jared thinks he could really get used to it, especially with the way Jensen’s running his hand through his hair.

“You’re an idiot, sometimes. You do know that right?” Jensen’s voice is soft and playful and Jared just grins, nods, snuggles down and buries his nose into Jensen’s belly.

“This weekend,” he mumbles against the taut skin as Jensen’s nails scratch lightly at his scalp and Jared relaxes to the touch, closes his eyes.

“This weekend, what?”

“Boxes,” he replies sleepily before yawning widely into Jensen’s stomach. “Hate boxes.”

Jensen huffs a laugh as Jared pulls the rest of his body up to curl around him, long legs tucking beneath his for warmth. He’s really comfortable, and this whole thing with him and Jensen just keeps getting better and better, no matter how slow he was on the uptake that this was even a possibility.

Jensen’s hand is still combing through his hair when he feels the first pull of sleep and he mumbles unintelligibly against the warm skin of Jensen’s abs as he succumbs, his last thought one of contentment and comfort, and of course, a fleeting ‘take that’ to the boxes he can still feel staring at him from the open closet.

~*~

They unpack the final box on Sunday night. Jared is sitting cross-legged on Jensen’s bed, nosily going through a shoe-box of old pictures and snorting randomly at the famous “Ackles Wide-Eyes O’ Doom” that grace the glossy portraits. Jensen is a bigger goofball than he is when it comes to taking pictures and when he pulls out the one of Jensen sporting a Mohawk and eyeliner dark enough to make Tammy Faye-Baker jealous, he can’t help but laugh.

Jensen turns around from his place in front of his new dresser and cocks a brow. “What?”

Jared turns the picture around for Jensen to see, grin wide and teeth shining. “I love the eyeliner dude. Guess you didn’t have to stretch that far for Hero after all, huh?”

Jensen groans as he turns back around, tucks something into the top drawer before closing it. “Give me a break. I was eighteen and I think I might’ve been extremely high for like, most of that entire year.” He turns and settles back on the dresser, arms crossed against his chest. “That’s it.”

Jared looks up from his continued inspection of the very impressive mohawk and looks up, eyes scanning the room quickly before grinning from ear to ear. “No more boxes?” he asks excitedly and claps his hands together in celebration when Jensen nods the affirmative.

“But see… here’s the thing,” Jensen starts and Jared’s grin falls a bit at his tone, looks at him questioningly as he steps toward the bed. “I think maybe this may have been a big waste of time.”

Jared’s face falls along with his stomach as he stares slack jawed at Jensen. “What?” he squeaks and then Jensen is smiling, bending down to crawl across the bed.

“Total waste of time,” he repeats as he takes the photographs from Jared’s limp hand, puts them on the bed beside him. “Cause I don’t plan on sleepin’ in here that much.”

And Jared really wants to punch him in the eye for teasing him like that cause he was, for a moment there, really fucking worried but he can’t help but grin as Jensen laughs at him, moving forward to press his lips against his in a long kiss.

“It can be your dressin’ room,” Jared mumbles against the soft wet flesh of Jensen’s mouth, hands falling to rest on Jensen’s waist as he straddles over him, a position Jared is beginning to like quite a lot. Jensen’s breath is hot against his skin when he laughs, hands running down Jared’s shoulders, arms, fleeting touches, caresses that make Jared tingle from his toes up.

“That’ll work,” Jensen breathes, tongue flicking across the plumpness of Jared’s lower lip. “But we’re totally moving my bed upstairs.”

Jared nods furiously as he pulls Jensen forward, feels the hot line of his dick pressing against his stomach through worn denim. “Yeah, your bed totally trumps mine,” he says quickly and then words are forgotten as Jensen rocks down, teeth catching on Jared’s lip and biting down just hard enough to make Jared’s dick twitch under the fabric of his sweats.

He can’t help but crack an eye open as Jensen kisses him, can’t help but look over at all of the broken down boxes stashed neatly by the door and his heart swells at the sight, the realization that this is it, Jensen’s moved in, Jensen wants him and he’s here, and things are just going to get better.

But then, Jensen does that thing with his hips and Jared groans, all sentimental thoughts shoved aside as he thunks his head back and cracks it against the iron headboard. The pain barely registers as Jensen bites down on his jugular, starts up the filthy words that get Jared hotter than a Texas summer and he closes his eyes to the rush of sensation. Jared’s not a stupid man and there’s no way he’s going to think about fucking boxes when he’s got Jensen Ackles in his lap gyrating his hips like a damn porn star.

He might not be too bright, but he at least knows that much.


End file.
